


Snowstorm

by SeleneLawfulGood



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, POV First Person, POV Third Person, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 18:17:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18783574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeleneLawfulGood/pseuds/SeleneLawfulGood
Summary: One girl who wanted to be free, be herself, and prove she was not who everyone thought.One girl who wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps and help people.Two girls who just wanted to correct their mistakes.Beacon Academy would give them the chance.(This is not Ruby Rose's story)





	Snowstorm

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first time posting here, hi everyone!
> 
> This isn't my first fanfic, just the first one I've gotten the courage to post, there's a few more that I'd also like to post soon.
> 
> English is not my first language, so if I've made any mistakes or the like don't be afraid to point them out (and constructive criticism is very welcome too, I want to get better/good as a writer even if this is a self-indulgent hobby for me).
> 
> Anyways, hope you like it!

“Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark” the headmistress’ voice boomed through the auditorium, audible for everyone in it “the four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester”

The four boys left the stage, but not before basking in the customary ovation that the audience gave them. Soon after, the next group of students appeared, taking their places where CRDL had been just a few seconds before.

“Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie” the headmistress turned a hand to the screen, showing their faces and names “the four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. Thus, from this day forward, you will work together as Team CRSN, led by Cinder Fall”

The ovation started again as said girl was congratulated with a warm hug by her mint-haired companion, while the other girl gave a much more enthusiastic embrace to the boy just next to her, almost throwing them both to the ground.

They were off the stage not long after, which meant it would soon be her turn, or rather her prospective team’s turn.

And truth be told, Weiss was nervous, _very_ nervous.

She wasn’t showing it, obviously, but the feeling was certainly there. That is, the anxiety over the possibility of not being made leader, the ‘what if’, after everything she had worked for.

It was irrational, she knew, she had called the shots and strategized with _and_ around her future teammates to take down that giant Nevermore they fought during initiation – it had been her plan, of course, the one that had finally done it, even if she did get some advice from the short-haired brunette right next to her.

Her future teammates were good, sure, but she _had_ to be leader, not being such would simply be insufficient. Both for herself and… probably for _him_ as well.

Weiss’ fears didn’t matter much longer though, as the headmistress finally called them: the last team of the day.

“And to conclude, Sienna Khan, Weiss Schnee, Vernal Branwen, and Ilia Amitola” she turned and motioned over them, the heiress’ heart beating faster than it did when she had been fighting just a few hours prior.

“The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team WIVS, led by Weiss Schnee”

That…

That was it, _I've made it!_

She felt a huge weight slide off her shoulders, and an equally huge wave of relief just following it. A small smile fell upon her face, and she gave a small bow to the crowd before turning to her now-teammates. Sienna looked mostly indifferent and Ilia didn’t seem very happy – then again, she hadn’t really seemed happy any time they were together – and Vernal wore the same confident smile wore most of the time.

Her blue eyes faced the heiress’, her grin sending a warm but foreign sensation through her body “congratulations, princess”

The other two muttered the same after her, just loud enough to be audible.

She ignored the nickname the butch girl gave her, and did her best to maintain her own smile as she thanked her for her words.

In-between the insecurity she felt, she knew one thing for sure: she would try her hardest to make her team the best in the Academy.

 

* * *

 

Immediately after the presentation, they were given the number of their room to unlock with their scrolls. They found it not much later, left their things there without unpacking them, chose their beds (Weiss in the first one, Sienna and Ilia on the last two, and Vernal between the two groups) and prepared for the night.

As the brunette sat down on her bed, having only changed into her simple black pajamas without much more fuss – she was the only one of the four with both a reasonable hair length _and_ a simple haircut, thus she didn’t need any extra-long haircare routines like the rest might – she reflected on just how incredibly awkward the trip there had been.

That meant, of course, that no-one except for herself had even bothered to try start a conversation with their team leader, as futile as it might had been since Weiss obviously felt bothered by the thinly hidden yet very visible disdain her shortest teammate showed towards her.

(The fact that their _other_ teammate, who seemed to be very close to Ilia, had basically ignored Weiss for most of the day, honestly didn’t help).

Vernal didn’t really understand why that could be. She had a bunch of theories, sure, like their leader being one of those assholes celebrities people in general just didn’t like. Or maybe they’d met earlier than initiation and the quiet girl simply didn’t like her, because of her attitude or something like that.

She could honestly imagine one of these possibilities being true (she hadn’t given the girl the nickname ‘princess’ without a reason), although she personally didn’t mind Weiss’ personality.

But then again, the reasons why didn’t matter much to her.

What did matter was that the team had to function, regardless of how they felt about each other. Yes, they had coordinated well during initiation, but doing that was very different from living and fighting together for the next four years of their lives, and if they didn’t at least manage to tolerate each other, everything would fall apart _fast_.

(She also honestly wanted them to be friends. Hostilites aside, all three of her teammates did seem like nice people, but it was't the moment to focus on that).

Still, she didn’t want to push them too much, so she preferred to not act right away. Instead, if they kept this up for the next few weeks, she’d take a page out of her mom’s book and intervene.

Weiss was the next to leave the bathroom, wordlessly motioning for either of the remaining girls to enter. She left the room immediately after, still in her nightgown.

Around half an hour later, both Sienna and Ilia had already finished with in the bathroom and were getting ready for bed, but Weiss still hadn’t returned. Had it been at an earlier time, it wouldn’t have been as strange, but Vernal was getting a bit worried.

Eventually, she just decided to go look for her, just to make sure she was okay, and then return to their room. She told the two other girls as much – Sienna nodded, head deep in a book, while Ilia seemed either asleep or just too tired to answer.

The hallways looked completely empty, but Vernal could make out some sounds in the distance; any more specific was lost to her, though.

She wandered around trying to get closer to the sounds, which if her mind and semblance didn’t fail her, sounded like a voice (more specifically her leader’s voice). It was pretty easy to follow too, and landed her just in front of the door that led to the roof of this particular building. She opened it and started to climb up the stairs, just until she could tell apart what Weiss was saying, because at this distance she could definitely tell that it was her.

“-ow, I know, sorry for worrying you, I was just… kind of overwhelmed” a pause “yeah, okay, I’ll call you if I’m feeling like this again. I just… I just didn’t want to take up so much of your time to deal with your stupid mess of a sister”

She noticed the girl’s voice had broken a little during parts of the conversation. A moment later, she also noticed that she had finished talking after exchanging a few more words with whoever was on the other side of the call and was now walking to the door Vernal had been spying her through. She felt herself relax though, it seemed her team leader was not in any trouble, even if said girl was also feeling not the best at the moment, gauging from the conversation she’d had.

_Still, better head back before she sees me_

And with a gust of wind, she was back down the stairs and towards team WIVS’s room. Weiss none the wiser.

 

* * *

 

Sienna’s ears wanted to rise as she heard Vernal enter the room again, yawning and waving. Before Sienna had time to wave back, the girl slumped muttered something resembling ‘goodnight’ and slumped down on her bed, barely covering herself with the sheets before she seemingly fell asleep.

About a minute later, the heiress opened the door, looked around the room, quickly greeting the ravenette with a slightly doubtful nod, then quietly came in and closed the door behind her. She then left her scroll on her nightstand, slowly got in her bed, and turned to face Sienna, looking like she wanted to speak, but didn’t know how to say whatever she wanted to say.

“Excuse me, could you please turn down the light?, it’s… a little difficult for me to sleep with it that bright”

Her eyes widened a little. The tiger faunus was surprised that a Schnee would be so polite with, well, anyone. Either way, she nodded, and did turn it down just enough for a regular human to be able to keep reading. A small smile fell on the white-haired girl’s shoulders.

“Thank you” she said, before settling back into a more comfortable position in her bed “goodnight Sienna”

“’Night”

Sienna saw the heiress’ smile falter a little at her own lack of reaction, before she finally turned away from her.

She sighed at the same time she passed a page.

The day had been hard for her. Not because of the initiation, mind you, they had fought against a pair of ancient grimm alongside that other team – which not many hunters even tried to do – _and won_ , it had been amazing. The crux of the issue had more to do with Weiss.

Sienna hadn’t liked her one bit when she’d seen her the day before, and the reaction was understandable, given she was the one set to inherit control of the organization she had been fighting against for a good part of her life. But then the girl had come defied most of Sienna’s expectations and, well.

_I guess it could be worse_

In any case, the tiger faunus was coming to slowly accept that the heiress – maybe – wasn’t that bad, and was willing to give her an opportunity if the girl kept this up.

Ilia, on the other hand…

_“That bitch doesn’t deserve to be here”_ the first time she saw Weiss, in the ballroom where they had slept the first night.

_“They’d better not put us on the same team as_ her _”_ a few minutes before initiation.

_“Why did it have to be me!?”_ after they passed it, when Sienna learned that her friend and the heiress were partners, a bit before the teams had been formed.

(She had broken down not long after. Lucky that Sienna had thought of pulling her into a bathroom to talk beforehand)

So, yeah, the chameleon faunus was _not_ thrilled by any means.

_Sigh_

She wanted to help the brunette, to make her feel better, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to with how everything had developed. Weiss being around for most of the time – since she was, well, their team leader – would make her friend stay on edge almost constantly unless she got used to the heiress’ presence.

Knowing why exactly Ilia felt that way about her, Sienna didn’t think it’d be easy, at all.

She put down her book a while later, careful to mark the page she had left it in, and rubbed her eyes. She was actually pretty tired, only the worry for her best friend truly keeping her awake and alert as she had been.

She turned off the light completely and let herself fall on her bed. She looked to Weiss and Vernal, peacefully sleeping, though the latter was snoring rather loudly – _how did I not hear her until now?_. Shaking her head, she turned her back to them, and her face to Ilia’s side, coming in contact with two silvery-blue and very open eyes.

Sienna smiled again at the sight of her friend “hey” she whispered.

Ilia whispered in return “hey yourself”.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

A nod “yeah, I…” she looked away “just trying to come to terms with… with all this. That this is gonna be my life for the next four years” she sent one last look to (Sienna assumed) the white-haired girl behind them.

Then, tears started welling up in her eyes “I-I just…”

The tiger faunus dragged herself just enough so she was in touching range with the other girl without risk of falling from her own bed, before moving her right hand to the other girl’s cheek and gently stroking it.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay”

The girl barely contained her incoming sobs.

“I see her a-and then I can’t stop thinking about…” _sniff_   “I-I miss them, I m-miss them s-so much”

“I know, it's okay”

Sienna continued repeating the motions for a while while Ilia let it out, before slowly but surely calming down. A few minutes later, the latter had ended up clutching the former’s hand with both of hers, while peacefully sleeping, tear tracks still somewhat moist on her face. The smile on the ravenette’s face widened warmly at the sight.

She decided against retracting her hand back to herself at her friend’s placid expression. Sighing, she tried to get in a comfortable position, and closed her eyes, waiting to drift off to sleep.

_Tomorrow will be better_

Ilia’s grip on her hand tightened.

_That’s going to hurt in the morning though_

**Author's Note:**

> To clarify, Vernal and Sienna are Beacon age (say, 17) in this AU and so are Cinder and Emerald (assuming the latter is older in canon). 
> 
> Sienna wears her combat outfit from the Adam short (with something else idk what to hide her ears) and Cinder has her V3 flashback appearance.
> 
> Also:  
> WIVS = White  
> CRSN = Crimson


End file.
